BBC: The Royal Family At Work. Episode #3: Head of State

all countries have a head of state in britain it's the queen she's not a ruler she's a constitutional figurehead her face is on every stamp coin and note and it's her government her church and her armed forces monarchies survive in the modern world she remains on the throne by tradition and popular consent and the queen doesn't govern she reigns this film will show what it means to sit on a 21st century throne every summer the queen and her court move to balmoral her scottish retreat the queen is on holiday but the state is not she can never fully relax come on the monarch is always in touch with her prime minister and once a year he comes to stay well right at the moment we're waiting for the prime minister and mrs blair who are going to come and spend the weekend of our morals reign for life but politicians come and go this will be the last balmoral weekend for the queen's 10th prime minister it's tony blair's duty to keep the queen informed and hers to listen but this visit is a social one too it's been touching again in fact when when you arrived on d side it was actually sort of just raining and it just got better well i had faith that this year like every other year we would be going to the barbecue no i'm not disappointed if we take you it's absolutely nothing you can't say to the queen i mean i told her about lots of things in my time you know everything from through being pregnant with leo through to you know major decisions that you take because the one thing that you know is that she will never divulge anything to anyone she is the person probably more than any other person that you can have a completely and totally discreet conversation with and it will never go further you've just been having tea are you right yes i've just said tea with friends charles it's very nice garden's looking very nice isn't it it's looking fantastic yeah thank you have you seen the new the new sort of gazebo yeah it's it's great isn't it yeah and also a day like this it's just wonderful yeah but it wasn't like this this morning very gray and threatening but we saw you pass it with the brim our gathering did you see all of us no no we didn't i think we just shot throughout i was i was thinking we probably existed at some point the two airplanes went quite close past in front of us all right i mean thoughtful arriving my other mrs blair was doing bernardo's yesterday with some fred yeah exactly he's because he also came by helicopters when the queen is in london the meetings are more business-like there's a weekly audience between the prime minister and the queen it's actually no real formula to it it lasts about an hour um but you go through the topics of the day but also range a little bit broader than that and and it gives you a chance to have a a very frank conversation about some of the issues which can be very tricky and very controversial i mean the queen will often have a list of topics she wants to raise but it's a very free-flowing discussion and over the years as i've got to know her better and she's got to know me better than it's it's become informal but but but very good the amazing thing about the queen is that because winston churchill was her first prime minister she has got an absolutely unparalleled amount of experience i mean you can sit down and talk to the queen about the major foreign policy events of the 50s or the 60s or the 70s 80s she's been through it all and she's talked with the prime ministers of the day and she has a very um shooting intuitive sense i think in any event about politics with a small p politics with a big p bring the queen back to london every autumn her standard has not flown over buckingham palace since july the queen is preparing for the most important fixture in the constitutional calendar the state opening of parliament once monarchs ran the country now politicians do but it's still the queen who opens parliament to begin the political year her representative at the palace of westminster is former general sir michael wilcox better known as black rod his job dates back to the days of royal rule blackwell was the doorkeeper in other words keep the undesirables out and keep good order and discipline within and wheelchairs do we know how many we've got this year in 1522 henry viii moved out with his family in his court but he left behind black rod and my statutes of 1522 say ye are to keep the doors of the high court that is called the parliament so from 1522 blackwater's been here get rid of that and put the box there when the queen opens parliament she sits in the house of lords but the real power is in the commons black rod is the go-between um the queen sends her messenger down and blackboard is the queen's messenger and and you go down to the commons now what happens when we get down there is the commons will shut the door in the face of the queen's messenger and that has become symbolic of the independence of the commons the slamming of the door is to say where the elected parliament where the people part of the parliament we're the ones that have been elected by the people and we decide who comes in so he has to go through the ritual of banging on the door this is the door that gets slammed on me and that's where i hit it i enjoy it hugely i always try and get through without them closing it i speed up without them noticing and see if they shut it in time but no very nearly very last year i did very very nearly a crisis you've actually come to the bar of the house here and of course the chamber is absolutely crowded and now dennis skinner sits there so you stop right alongside him he turns to one side of the chamber and said the queen requests your presence in the other house and nods and then he turns to the other side and says the same thing and i happen to be in the corner seat and i've been for many years labour mp dennis skinner is known for heckling before the queen's speech and i remember there was a hollow balloon about the queen uh taxes it was the issue of the of the moment and so when he turned to me and the others on that side i said tell us to pay your taxes parliamentary ceremony hides centuries of quarreling and a bloody civil war the state opening is not a celebration of royal power but of constitutional compromise which allows the monarch to sit on the throne and an elected government to rule so black rod will lead the elected mps through to the splendor of the unelected lords and we all bow and then the queen delivers a speech but you see that the effect as you come up it's uh i think it works i think it's terrific it really is to have two thrones here and you can tell which one the queens can you tell it's look at the feet you see you can't you can't sit higher than the queen and hers is a couple of inches higher than the juveniles if you look at our traditions and our ceremony ceremonies provided they have a fundamental you know reason for them then something as spectacular as this something's been going on for 500 years strip out anything we might feel looks a bit ridiculous now but it's a tremendous look back to our history and continuity and and you know it symbolizes what the monarch stands for and her relationship between her the houses of her parliament so i you know i'm very very proud historic tensions still exist some mps refuse to take part my objection is not really about the tradition i take exception to the fact that we are being asked to go to the house of lords to listen to this address which has been drawn up by the government of the day but it's like giving license to the idea that the aristocracy is important and i refuse to do that away from parliament the queen has many other regular constitutional duties as head of state she is supreme governor of the church of england and defender of the faith and is known to be a devout christian she takes her role very seriously but britain is now a country of many faiths whatever the queen believes herself a modern head of state must include all major religions and promote understanding between them dr nato imam mulana today leaders from nine faiths present the queen with a special medal in recognition of her efforts to bridge religious divides thank you very much indeed it's lovely isn't it it is only one time i mean is it really there's no one there thank you very but much i think it's especially important right now um all trans beings in the last three or four years it's becoming important yeah i mean it originally was it was just a good idea yes and now it's now it really is important it's important some think because in a society of many faiths an idea of what it means to be british can be lost today at least there is a sense of unity indeed constitutionally she is head of the church but we are all her subjects we live in this country britain is our home and like the christian community muslims jews hindus they all consider her majesty as queen and they consider her majesty the head of all our communities thank you bye unfortunately i had this stroke so i haven't i was unholy the defender of the faith is also head of the defenders all soldiers swear allegiance to the queen even if they must do what the politicians tell them and so you've taken i've taken over the first town and we've moved to cyprus since we last met them and the uh here the royal welsh update their colonel in chief on the regiment's deployment yes we're in iraq in 2004 2004 yes well it all looks as it's changing a bit doesn't it but i didn't want it yeah so the the announcements of a production of 50. i don't think it's very much but no this is something that's clearly agreed by the iraqis and the and the americans here's hoping that it that it works yes hope so yes so you you've been commanding them well hugh's just had to learn so i've just handed and we're sort of busy training to go to iraq on the 15th of may that'll be our our third tour to iraq um in about six years or well since 2003 comes around terribly quickly which for most of the soldiers isn't a problem because they're they're right up for it but there are one or two who are suffering a little bit of iraq fatigue and would rather go to afghanistan or somewhere different for example to give them a choice a different sort of sound absolutely different is symbolic above all of power and the monarch's grandest symbols are kept at the tower of london some of the crown jewels will play a central role at the state opening they're so precious that when they leave the tower they must take a secret journey only one man can touch them david thomas the crown jeweler the position of grandeur is a personal appointment from the sovereign and it was first created by queen victoria in 1843 before the ceremony david brings the imperial state crown to the palace in an unmarked box the head that wears the crown must be comfortable with its weight so she'll try it on before the day first crown was made first made for queen victoria's coronation in 1838 it was remade for george the sixth coronation and it was partially remade for the coronation in 53 and as they partially remade the head size was made smaller and the arches were lowered to make it more feminine and a lot lighter because it still weighs two and a half pounds i mean you've got the most fantastic collection of stones in here right in the front is the second star of africa first star is in the scepter with the cross which is also in the tower london the black prince is ruby right in the front it isn't a ruby it's a spinel it's actually worn by henry v at the battle of agincourt in 1415 and the four pearls in the center three of which were on a necklace belonging to elizabeth the first i think we have to be satisfied that we do have the the finest finest stones in the in the english crown jewels a day ahead of the queen's speech the key players are rehearsing the ceremony the household cavalry will be lining the royal staircase as the queen enters parliament as you're entering into the corridor tomorrow okay remember it's the left foot making the noise the right foot sliding in and the same detail when we exit the actual staircase as well the household cavalry are the only soldiers allowed to draw swords in a royal palace always this is quite a long um stand and carry and they're in full armor you know breastplates and everything else and they're very young soldiers and every year one or maybe two gets sort of slightly you know overcome and have to be replaced so they've always got two spare bags left and right turn quiet quiet in the buckingham palace billiard room david thomas is checking all the royal regalia for the state opening including the cap of maintenance originally an inner lining for a crown it symbolizes the monarch's spiritual power it does represent sovereign and it's carried before as with the great sword estate at all state occasions this is velvet red velvet cap and the gold gold braid at the top here and this is this is irman herman comes from the winter belly of a stout so if we ever need to replace urban we've got to go and find a stone in the winter to get the fur from the belly that's how you get the little black marks and now it's ready to be carried in the carriage which goes with the crown and the great sword of state here we go lovely engraving on there it again it's silver guilt it represents the sovereign's royal authority and we have the emblems down here of england scotland and ireland the other side if i turn it over it's the same it's england scotland and ireland and the line and the unicorn here now wales is not represented because wales being a principality it doesn't get um doesn't get represented and being welsh it's very difficult for me to accept but i'll go along with that anyway in her private audience room the queen is waiting for the president of latvia and her family it's a get to know you exercise the queen will soon be visiting the baltic states of latvia lithuania and estonia your majesty during latvia's days under soviet rule president freiburger lived in canada where the queen is also head of state well you see i thought it was rather strange for canadians to have a queen who's living overseas so far away but uh as time went by i realized what it meant and and the advantages of a monarchy in terms of the monarch being the head of state i hear you're actually working here yes no based in london that's what brings you here sometimes isn't it so that you can't really it's uh i'm not alarmed because you see one house as president a rather limited time at one's disposal and a lot has to be done in that time and and it doesn't leave so much time for private visits as well she embodies the uh the best that monarchy has to offer in other words a person who as a symbol of the power of the state but at the same time it's a human being and a human being who actually has to work in order to do would you that to do it yeah all right and she's also has a lot of charm and a lot of personality so that i think with that personality uh if she had not been born a queen she certainly would have won i think elections with no difficulties at all westminster is rehearsing the state opening of parliament the duchess of norfolk stands in for the queen four pages who must all be shorter than the monarch will carry her train friends of the royal family their reward is a day off school if you go up onto the top step because if you hang back it'll probably have the effect of just pulling back on the queen shoulders just get rid of that yes that's okay okay and then when you lay it down what you're really after is that it's it's rather smooth a little bit you'll be brilliant but nervous no no we've got two doing this for the first time only two veterans who absolutely that's why they're so relaxed at the back we're waiting for um for mr straw but he's not quite here so he's going to start without him despite all the planning one key player is missing i can make a telephone call but i don't know if it's going to achieve him don't achieve anything at all he knows exactly does he know yes and then the queen will sit down and say my lord's pray be seated the house of lords will sit and then when she's ready she will then tell the lord great chamberlain to tell black rod who is down there in the central lobby to get the commons there's roughly about a minute wait because we can't start the speech too early because the queen doesn't like speaking when there's a lot of noise still going on we then start the speech and i quietly say the lord chancellor go as lord chancellor charles faulconer is britain's most senior lawyer and charlie the longer you take the better because it um it fills in time it'll be his job to present the speech written by the government for the queen to read and charlie actually sorry just one one me personally it's the most nerve-wracking event you could possibly imagine if you're making a speech or or discussing some uh political issue you know you can sort of correct your words but here the eyes of the world are upon you and it's a really nerve-wracking occasion like that you see what i mean brilliant this i carry this great purse and this great purse has got one bit where the speech goes in and will be held in but if you put it in another bit it slips straight through so you're convinced as you open the purse you will find nothing there except a dry cleaning ticket every time every time it is the best man at the wedding syndrome where you can't find the ring and i don't know what happens do you say what we'll just cancel this year's legitimate program i'm afraid we lost the speech and that was it so you feel everything depends on it well sue is offering to come and give you lessons in effect there should be law chancellor you jack straw leader of the commons is 30 minutes late okay okay we have to slightly improvise how we all get in okay and then as she passes we just buy out okay okay right just what i mean because she's behind us she's going to go on into the roping room yeah but we sort of stop here i'm sorry we started without you but that's fine but you're waiting to process that way see what i mean lady heyman the new lord speaker is a novice on the day everyone's in uniform and it all works beautifully trust me no i'm just worried about the robe i'm worried about the stairs and the road yeah jack can hold you if you've got a if you if you can well the first thing is if you get a perfect rehearsal you get a disastrous performance so we don't mind if some things that seem a bit afraid at the end that will see how complex it is if you've got any questions do come and ask them um but rehearsal over i'm sure tomorrow go extremely well thank you for coming the state opening is a public spectacle too the queen's horses and carriages will form two processions through the streets one for the crown jewels and one for the queen long before dawn on the big day the royal muse is hard at work yesterday we started at half past two today it was more between four and a half past we've just taken horses out for exercise first to make sure that they're a little bit tired so obviously there's a lot going on so just try and take the edge off of them before i've been outright for the crown so i'll be running a bay horse today i'll put on the crown procession which is quite nice because we actually need the whole thing out because we got four queens so i might have done a state opening before such an amazing feeling when you're riding out you know up the mall or across horse scars with all the crowds it's just unbelievable you just ride out and there's just everybody there and you just got these butterflies in your stomach's little knot and it's just an amazing feeling you're like i can't believe i'm actually doing this for the queen it's just a bit surreal really and then you come back and you're like did that really happen was i really there it's amazing every member of this mounted cast has a special costume called the full state thanks delivery alex mattinson is in charge of the wardrobe hey vicky how you doing the jackets on the other side are worth you know roughly about 10 to 15 000. pretty much most of the uniforms are over 100 years old so we're still using them even to this day because they're only used once a year then they we pretty much get quite a lot of life out of it so a lot of the britches actually have names in from 1901 and things like that if we come to the age the thing really whereby if you don't fit the uniform you don't really do the job sometimes because then we have to try and find someone else i've never actually yet said i'm afraid i can't get you into this you just probably won't look as good as some of the others that's the only thing there's always a few nerves before you go out just that you know your horses are going to be good and everything but they went well on the rehearsal yesterday so the imperial state crown the cap of maintenance and the sword of state represent the powers of the sovereign and travel to westminster ahead of the queen i'm with the carriage over there which is the alexandra state coach i think with the clown in you're listening to today on radio 4 with james nochty and sarah montague today marks the start of the final session of parliament with tony blair as prime minister it'll be officially opened by the queen speaking in the house of lords she'll outline the planned program of legislation and by the time of the next queen speech mr blair will have stood down from westminster our political correspondent laura kunsberg like much of his administration's previous legislation the speech will concentrate on law and order expect measures to tighten the rules on immigration create more secure borders and longer sentences for violent offenders so the prime minister may have a minor role on the parliamentary stage today but it is he who has written the speech i've always thought that the monarchy has a unifying role to play and when we put on you know that wonderful ceremony of the state opening of parliament personally i think that's great i think people love to see it they know it's a ceremony we're not seriously thinking the queen's you know sat down and written out the queen's speech herself they know of course that it's a piece of pomp and ceremony but what's wrong with that she arrives at the royal gate which is at the bottom of the stairs she's greeted warmly climbs the top of the stairs then goes into the royal dressing room and i think between five and ten minutes go by the doors open and the most important person in the realm is revealed and yet the most important person in the realm is a constitutional monarch it is the state in all its absolutely stunning pomp it is utterly and totally illustrative of everybody's place in the constitution the judges respectful and in order the bishops suitably spiritual everybody in their place she summons the commons but it is those very commons that she has summoned who by producing the government have required her to read that speech the elected deliver their symbolic historic snub to the unelected mr speaker the queen commands this honorable house to attend her majesty immediately in the house of peers the commons shamble along from the house of commons chamber making a huge noise indicating that for all your grandeur and for all your pomp in the house of lords we are the people who make the noise and we are the people who matter i hand over on behalf of the government to the speech and then she reads out what it is that her government is going to do my lords and members of the house of commons my government will pursue policies aimed at meeting the challenges which the united kingdom faces at home and abroad a stable economy is the foundation of a fair and prosperous society my government will continue to maintain low inflation sound public finances and high employment the crown jewels are back in the tower but the constitutional role continues all year round the queen will soon appoint her 11th prime minister for now gordon brown is still chancellor on the eve of his last budget speech he comes to share the contents with the monarch the queen removes the corgis for the occasions i shut the dogs up it's meant to be an opportunity for her to give advice as well as to listen what i do every year is report to the queen the night before the budget and i go through all the major details and she asks questions about what's happening not just in britain but around the world but what obviously she'll be interested in and is interested in is the welfare of our armed forces you know just about every member of her family has served the country in one way or another thank you very much for meeting me today well like i said it's come around again awfully quickly though it has indeed and uh i have got some good information for you and i've also got something to tell you about how we're trying to support the troops in afghanistan and iran is a family interest as well because of that exactly because harry well i think he's a very brave young man and very courageous and we'll certainly do everything we can to to support him but i i thought i thought i would say that um the first thing i'll do in the budget is put more money for our troops in iraq and afghanistan and also for all the other places around the world where they're doing such a good job yes because they're they're very pushed all around not there now so many places so we would we would put extra money into that and i was in bajra and i thought that the morale was very high and i thought that very young but doing a great job and very determined and enthusiastic and i mean i saw the royal welsh the other day and and they've got a lot of black watch and volunteered to go with them that's right you know people are keen to go hoping to go to afghanistan in the next few days after the budget to see how loyal you have to see her and went she did and that was a very good thing to do and i think these visits do help a lot of them and i think andrew's just been in iraq yes well she does a wonderful job doing that and so did that so do all of you and andrew went to look at the helicopter because that's yes that's his favorite i think when you start coming to talk about the budget you you feel that you've got to present all the formal parts of the the budget in in order and in some some detail and i think you quickly realize that what the queen wants to know is what are the central things and she wants to talk about what's happening to all the different industries and places she's visited and she's both sympathetic and very helpful to you and at the same time she's got very good advice about some of the issues that are worrying people at the time and i think even although it's the last stage of a budget process sometimes you go back and change a bit of your speech it's not just the political bigwigs who have private meetings with the queen every year beyond the public gays hundreds of audiences take place the queen meets diplomats clergy heads of state i will stand on the left and walk in first the door will open um and if the president is on my right and we'll walk in two to two places or so and stop and i will announce um the president of estonia and dr rutle i have this pronounced correct that's great president estonia and dr russell your majesty for the monarch it's an unchanging round but if she's bored it never shows the ambassador of poland your majesty whoever the guest the format is the same majesty a lord chamberlain arrives this is your badge of office well i've heard all about it you wear it in a very strange place but otherwise it's all right um elsewhere you know where's here a dean of saint paul's retires it's first of all it's great pleasure to be able to give him the kcvo as a token thanks and appreciation very much indeed how long have you been in scotland after 55 years the queen's conversational repertoire is finally tuned is it is it like what you expected it to be like is this your first visit here this is like what you thought it was going to be like at the end of the meeting the queen presses a discrete buzzer and the doors are open as head of state the queen has visited most countries on earth at least once but even after half a century she's still covering new ground the first state visit by a british monarch will be a milestone for the newly democratic baltic states of lithuania latvia and estonia which will be the last stop for the british ambassador nigel haywood this will be one of the high points of a 27-year career in the foreign office we really are in the most pro-british country i've ever been to in my life i've been to quite a lot of countries estonia will be the 132nd nation the queen has visited and it's hoped thousands will greet her here in the capital talon before a concert in this square louise the ambassador's wife keeps an eye on the planning we're in the town hall square now and they're looking at where the queen is actually going to sit uh when she looks at the concert which is the platform over there they're going to put on a platform where people are going to sing and they're busy discussing whether i think she's actually going to get on the platform get off the platform on where she's going to sit in relation to the platform to get your head of state out to a post that you're in must be every ambassador's dream we know it's a lot of work and everything like that but just to have her here and we never thought we would we just didn't think the request was sent in please could she consider coming to estonia and we just didn't think that she'd be here when we were here so we are so lucky the queen's visit is fast approaching nigel has asked the royal navy to stage the last engagement here in tallinn harbour what we have to do is make the absolute best possible display that we can if you think of the most over-the-top jubilant all-happening thing that you can come up with then you'll be halfway to what we want to achieve on this this really has to be a brilliant send-off and as i said to my staff this morning keep smiling one of the huge problems of diplomacy is that it's very difficult to quantify the impact you have on political situations or bilateral relations and what of course we do benefit from is is the general sense of pro-britishness and good will that the visit will engender hms liverpool is not here just because the lord high admiral is coming to town estonia is a new nato ally and has just bought three british mine hunters the queen will mark the deal on board this royal navy destroyer louise is her stand-in at the rehearsal i genuinely don't know why foreigners should be interested in our queen i have no idea but in every country we've been in that's been the sole topic of conversation that people have really wanted to know about good afternoon university come on henry don't be captivated very nice to meet you come on you know they're sort of interested in our prime minister the one thing they want to know is what's our queen doing oh what's her family doing oh you must know because you come from britain admiral you need to chitchat the focus then as far as i know i just wander around after them all and introduce people if they need to be introduced and i just hope i remember all my names the queen wants to point out yeah i think you won't want to stay i think you can rely on commander duffy to have removed every puddle she can't see the fly she'll need to step out like that she should be standing here nigel's starting to get butterflies now it's only because once the actual visit starts there is nothing he can do because he will actually be with the queen the whole time i keep saying yeah it'll be fine on the night it'll be okay but um he'll still worry about it and he'll worry about it right to the end your majesty this is uh quite an interesting corridor it has um a few pictures of um again fat raw family occasions penny russell smith the queen's press secretary has invited the estonian media to the palace the queen is more proactive than ever with her public relations and its hope the visit will be one of the biggest stories in estonia for years there aren't many countries now where the queen has not been actually so um she'll be delighted to to to come and see estonia for herself she really will penny wants to make sure that everyone understands the queen's role as head of state does the government play plays a role in organizing some agenda topics what to discuss right because the queen is not an executive head of state there won't be substantive political talks but as you may have been told there will be the very important ceremonial element of it with welcome and and uh and dinner how it was decided that the queen will go to what extents you said yes she's not doing it herself no the british government will have advised her and obviously since we are now um you know partners in the european union and and nato um obviously the british government decided that it would be very appropriate anything else our president was in an official visit recently in scotland indeed and they met yes are you able to like recollect any any of her impressions of the meeting or are we able to comment you're digging away aren't you um it's very hard for me to say i simply don't know what was discussed yeah hi it's tim i'm returning your call whether it's the baltic or blackpool the queen's movements are all planned here at the palace's travel office should be okay we've proposed to the private secretary that she could fly out in a helicopter from hollywood former fighter pilot group captain tim hewlett is in charge of royal transport so paul f gray would come out with a queen and you would cover both the queen and prince philip for the day i'm responsible for all aspects of air travel that all 12 members of the royal family carry out in looking at the whole of the baltic states visit we have three countries in five days which is quite challenging not a huge choice of airplanes and which to do this the queen doesn't have her own aircraft at all other than the queen's helicopter so we've looked at and priced a british airways aircraft for the task hiring the plane for the five-day trip will cost seventy thousand pounds british airways hand-picked the crew but tim still insists on a pre-flight briefing they will be apprehensive so part of my job is to reassure them that um that they're there really to do what they do best good afternoon all ladies and gentlemen as bob said this is a private charter for the palace um for a state visit for a majesty of the queen and his royal highness the duke of edinburgh to go to the baltic states you'll find that the first and third rows will be taken out on the front right hand side of the aircraft that is where the queen and duke of edenberg will be sitting and by taking out every other row and that just allows them a little bit more sort of leg space let's just come on to the cabin staff side netty i know you've done this before and it's super to see you again remember how to mix a gin and juboni nitty 70 30. it's my girl and some bitter for the duke used to be double diamond but i think they've gone out of business now um newspapers periodicals a good selection of everything including the racing post please we've mentioned that to adrian already absolutely essential reading so if we can make a point of um of having the racing post amongst a cross section of um tabloids and broad sheets yes we could do that i was privileged to go to collect the queen monday and we flew down with um 20 passengers and 10 dogs and if if those dogs had air miles i tell you they've been they've logged up quite a few in the time so but in the cabin it's business as usual thank you very much for your time after a year's planning the queen finally reaches estonia on the last leg of her baltic tour she's greeted by the british embassy team before heading off to the customary state welcome from the president at the state banqueting house manager peter noll is fine-tuning what should be the grandest dinner in modern estonian history table number three is this one chair is completely wobbly and since the food is going to be placed ronaldo on the table we have to move the glasses and this napkin slightly back otherwise you have problems foreign affairs department has just arrived so we can soon get the table plan as well so we know who is sitting where it looks good so far we had been doing about six and a half hours of ironing of seat covers and then another two hours of the table closes because there's 12 tablecloths in here another 10 cable classes over in the olefsaal where the reception will be the receiving line so it's quite a lot of tasks which had to be done this morning we started already nine o'clock and the queen arrives at 8 30 this evening estonia is known for we get everything done but it's done last minute today we were at 4 30 ready with everything for something which is starting at 7 30. so this is actually a record probably but in a positive way in the in the main room behind the flowers we're hiding a tissue box for the queen just in case she sneezes the guests are all in place for the ambassador's reception if as they come to the bottom of the steps you feel moved to spontaneous applause that's fine and this is mainly a group of artists headed by tony calister who was the inventor of chamber fire the queen and prince philip have 45 minutes to meet nigel's 200 guests my daughter went up there the other day she visited so she says dust he's like tell comparable it's not the introductions are taking longer than planned one of the queen's private secretaries has a word with nigel as the queen's host the ambassador should make sure she keeps to the schedule we were just checking the clock um i think we're probably overrun slightly but everyone's enjoying it we just have to gently move her majesty on so that she's not late for the next appointment how do you do that i don't know but you're about to discover until someone intervenes the queen will just go on meeting greeting and thinking up questions at the moment the door to the service room is open this is actually our um standard team of four people in our restaurant and in order to make a decision who was going to serve the queen and who's going to serve the president we made this morning a small luxury so until this morning nobody of them knew who was going to serve it so they're not getting too nervous overnight queen will be robert uh and the president will be oliver peter thinks of everything even the choreography of the microphones not good not good if i would be sitting here and have two persons coming at the same time i i would be claustrophobic so i think the hilbert speaks first so we will bring first to elvis the microphone and then to the queen but behind each other not at the same time but within a flow so it's not that you wait until she speaks this is it this is my estonian creation well this is very state banquet the queen i know will come with all her glitzy bits but but apparently we were told tiaras are not required for those who don't have them just as well because i do not because i've never been to a state banquet before that will be really really exciting and it'll probably be the only one i'll ever get to go to often if we go to important dinners you're sort of sitting with important people but now we're sitting with really important people and it'll be interesting to see how the conversation goes really so i'm so quite looking forward to that um for the state banquet the queen is wearing the grand duchess vladimir tiara it was smuggled out of russia during the bolshevik revolution she and estonia's new president thomas ilves were the honours they exchanged earlier for the queen the blue order of terror mariana for the president the order of the bath the masternodes hayward as nigel and louise met the monarch earlier protocol dictates that they don't shake hands with her again but all the other 92 guests must be formally introduced team you have spoken about the historic ties between the united kingdom and estonia our shared history particularly during estonia's struggle for independence is something that we will never forget join me in a toast to the president and the people of the republic of estonia all right very good thank you very much i only managed to knock over a chair which was a trifle embarrassing but there we go oh dear the final day of the state visit starts with the largest event of the entire baltic tour the walkabout and concert talon old town square is packed is that wire going to be on the ground as queen's press secretary penny russell smith tries to keep the media happy without crowding the queen a practical solution is to let one camera film at close quarters and then share the results but estonian security is tight trick in filming the queen is to try and stay ahead of her all the time the problem is that you're often being pushed by uh local security by palace securities but when the queen arrives penny finds that she too is a target of estonian not security yes we know that we know that stop pushing me how dare you that's quite vicious things are more orderly on board hms liverpool yeah so and then i'll say your majesty would you could i ask you to uh to sign a vistas but yes okay she sits down i'll then step back because i'm going to stay out your way point to side the tour ends with the queen and president ilves celebrating uk estonian military links here on one of her ships she meets estonian troops who have served with british forces in afghanistan i am quite proud actually i think we've done well here you know it's really good everyone's enjoyed themselves absolutely a royal party have enjoyed themselves people have been saying they're coming back again and you know you know then it's got it's gone well and everyone's had a happy time ma'am it's been wonderful i'm only sorry it's over thank you so much for the ambassador it's been a diplomatic triumph it's been such a great day trouble is i've been about three occasions where i've nearly burst into tears which is a bit embarrassing it's a huge historic moment and everyone's going to be talking about it for the rest of my time here and probably for for my successes times here the queen is special she's the brand leader this is the person everyone thinks of when when they think of monarchy there's this usual thing why wasn't i wearing a crown you have to say when it's too heavy they're asking whether it'd be all right to present the garlands at the beginning oh yes i think that's all right and then you can get it over my head she asked me if i was covered in lard it was lost but it's not as much fun as you think you

Channel: Артём Мягков

Views: 731,149

Keywords: Elizabeth II (Monarch), Monarchy: The Royal Family At Work (TV Program), Monarchy Of The United Kingdom (System Of Nobility)

Id: rz6dYGSIkWI

Length: 59min 15sec (3555 seconds)

Published: Mon May 26 2014